Marla Ortega, chef-owner of The Illium Cafe in Troy, will be a contestant on the Food Network series "Guy's Grocery Games" on Sunday. Ortega said she will host a viewing party starting around 7:15 p.m. Sunday at The Illium, located in Troy's Monument Square. Complimentary light fare and beverages will be offered.

In a commercial for the Mother's Day-themed show, Ortega, who is the mother of sons Nathan, 8, and Alex, 20 months, says, "My boys are going to be so proud of me!" She taped the show a few months ago during a three-day trip to California.

The episode airs at 8 p.m. Sunday and repeats at 3 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday and 4 p.m. Saturday, May 17. Titled "Moms Know Best," it features spiky-haired host Guy Fieri challenging the competitors to three rounds of shopping and cooking in a supermarket, including working only with ingredients that start with the same letter, brunch for four on a budget and guilty pleasures.

Bar, brewery and deli coming to Troy corner

A 35,000-square-foot Troy building that was home to the former Trojan Hardware for more than 90 years will soon have three street-level spaces devoted to food and drink. The building, on the corner of Fourth and Congress streets, was redeveloped over the past nine years by owner Kevin Blodgett, who did the renovations himself and is opening two of the businesses, a restaurant-bar called The Shop and a deli called Harrison's Corner Market. There are also seven apartments on the upstairs floors, a temporary home to a gallery and two more vacant commercial spaces.

Rare Form, due to open by the end of May, is a brewery with a taproom for tasting its four main beers: Sabbatical Session Ale, Cascadia Double IPA, Wee Plaid Scottish Ale and Satan's Gut Imperial Stout. It will offer rotating season beers, experimental brews and occasional beers made in-house by home-brewers, according to Rare Form's website. It won't have a kitchen, the site says, but will offer "selected local and regional goods to pair with each beer to highlight and bring forth different, complex and unique flavors." The owners are Kevin Mullen and Jenny Kemp.

The Shop, a hardware- and tool-themed bar, should open by mid-June, Blodgett said. It will feature 14 drafts, a variety of other beers in cans (no bottles) and what Blodgett described as "culinary comfort food," including Carolina pulled pork on Texas toast with aged cheddar. The chef is Ryan Cusack, previously of the Troy restaurant Daisy Baker's, which was badly damaged by a December flood from burst water pipes and seems unlikely to reopen as a result of the building being foreclosed and auctioned. Blodgett said The Shop will be open from 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Wednesday, until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday; brunch will be served on Saturday and Sunday.

The opening date of the deli is uncertain, Blodgett said, as additional renovation work, including a new facade, needs to be done.

Soft-serve cones $2 during May at Mac's

Mac's Drive-In in Watervliet is offering all cone sizes of its soft-serve ice cream for $2, a savings of 50 cents to $1, throughout May. It is available in six flavors.